Supervision, Water and kids.... this could be you

This is why we should talk about it. This is my story and i hope that be retelling it that someone listens and takes note that drowning can happen to them. After reading a few post on EB over the last 6 months there are some who just dont 'get it'. I read with disgust a bath supervision topic and so many kids are not being supervised during bath time. These kids are as young as 2. Seriously who doesnt watch a child when in water??? this is our life now without Hannah please dont let it be you. Supervise your kids at all times and have barriers in place for whatever water activity or environment you are in.

in 2008 on Hannah's Anniversary we filmed with Tara Brown on 60 Minutes with the Harris Family in Victoria. In December 2008 we had Hannah's Inquest, this November the Harris' have their inquest for Lauren. In this program we support the ISR program, so much so that we had young Harry trained in it last December travelling to Sydney. Its our belief that EVERY CHILD should be able to roll over an...d float and have THEIR FACE UP FIRST instead of Hold your breath and swim to the edge which is most likely what Hannah did, its what she was taught. Please dont ignore the skills kids need but dont ever rely on 'swimming' because it wont save your life. If only is a question I ask every day Why wasnt Hannah able to get out of the pool when she could swim. dont let us be you.

Hannah died by drowning in our back yard pool (it was illegally built to safety standards and TWO professionals who had seen it never raised the issue) and suffered a heart attack that she could not be revived from.

Many children that drown are in environments that they shouldnt be in, their carers/parents last saw them in anoth...er room or where thought to be with the other carer/parent, many children who drown are enrolled in swim lessons at the time of their death and most if not of all those parents believed that their child could 'save themselves' as they did in lessons many times.

The fact is that Lessons and kids are controlled and drowning is silent, alone and unfamiliar which leads to panic. In the advocacy of myself, Kat Plint her belief is that many children drown and panic due to the temperature of the pool water. lessons are in heated pools most homes/dams/creeks arent. Cold water create panics and instantly the body wants to shiver but sadly being vertical in the water and weighed down by clothes kids are expected to survive. After 18 coronial inquests that I have attended not once has this issue been addressed by a coroner. NOt even in our own daughters inquest was it raised... WHY?? because NOT one person or invesigator took the temperature of the pool when they arrived.

Always supervise your kids around water, lock external doors to outside areas and be familiar with your environment. Many children drown in backyard pools whilst visiting friends, neighbours or simply didnt KNOW the pool was even there and thought the back yard was Pool free. If you have a pool please place a sign at your front door saying "we have a pool please SUPERVISE your children". All pools need to be fenced according to the AS1926.1 Standard and In Qld you can not rent/lease or buy a house WITHOUT a pool safety certificate and all pools must be registered on the Pool Safety Council's registered 4th November 2011.

for Bath safety please supervise your child always and never turn your back on them even to grab a towel from next the room. Sadly three children aged 14 months, 3.5 years and 5 years 1 month have drowned over the past month from being left UNATTENDED in the bath/shower only to drown and not to be revived.

Home safety - mop buckets, dogs bowls, wshing the car, horse troughs and any water that is more than 3cm will drown and kill a child. The top loader washing machine has killed three children in four years. Lock your laundry door so kids cant access it.

Farm safety is crucially important that Houses need safe play areas and these areas need fencing that is secure and at a height that prevents children from roaming and accessing dams/creeks/irrigational channels.

Beach safety is swim between the red/yellow flags, always make sure your children are wearing high visibility swim clothes that you can idenitify with and also put bracelets on your children with your mobile phone number and their name.

Boating - when on the water on boats etc please ensure that all NON SWIMMERS are in life jackets that are approved for Boating. A reflective life jacket with a floatation collar is designed to keep your face up and you floating on your back when you are in the water. Most jackets should have a whistle and reflectors. if you are taking passengers that havent been boating it is your responsibility to teach your passengers the safety procedures in water and ensure their safety at all times. Everyone under 12 has to legally wear a life jacket and all NON SWIMMERS.

CHILDREN OF ALL AGES WHO ARE NON SWIMMERS (can not swim more than 50m) have to be in ARMS REACH AT ALL TIMES and do ont leave children in water with Swim vests or toys and rely on them as a drowning prevention safety item. THEY ARE DANGEROUS and all require SUPERVISION and ADULTS to be with them.

All children need to supervised and we hope that this Spring/Summer season that your children enjoy the water and are safe! Please eyes on all at times and never ever rely on someone else to watch your children.

this safety message proudly supports National Drowning Prevention, Awareness and Memorial Day on 4th October 2011. Please take a minute at 2pm to remember all those lost to drowning and those who are injured and their families. Over 315 families last year were affected and since 2008 Hannah's Foundation has supported over 468 families.

I hope no one ever experiences this on any level whether a parent, sibling, emergency worker or neighbour, doctor or nurse. THe experience is horrific and I wouldnt wish it on anyone. I just want to you to listen and take action and keep your kids safe. We did everything right with Hannah and it failed dont let us be you.

The Kids Aquatic Survival Swim school is located in Sydney at three locations now you can book through www.infantswim.com.au

We hope to raise enough money to be able to have teachers in Victoria and Qld as a not for profit swim survival school sadly as a charity we are not govt funded and there is some backlash in the industry about this program.

The insurance on a swim school will be expensive for our charity though and its all down to $$. Anyway just thought Id tell our story to educate more people.

Katherine is there an increased potential risk of dry drowning with ISR?

Adults are more likely to dry drown because they hold their breath longer, in kids they are more likely to wet drown in their lungs because their brain tells them to breathe after they passout under water.

To my knowledge and Ive spoken with Dr Harvey Barnett in the USA about this there has been no case where a child has drowned in ISR or being skilled in same. Every child in ISR has a ISR Registered number. Harry our son has his own number and if he is in an aquatic accident that its also reportable to ISR in the USA. The seven cases that are known were boating accidents and and four swimming accidents. on all occasions medical and the medical pathologists ruled accordingly to head injury being unconsious and having seizures/asthma attacks in the water. When you are unconscience in the water you are unable to do anything so no action by the body can be taken to get your head out of the water.

IN Australia I only know of three secondary drowning cases in children where hte children were immersed and not checked by a doctor and subsequently died of Secondary drowning a few days later.

The dry drowning cases that I have dealth with in coroners court have been adults and those adults were intoxicated as well when they drowned.

Katherine, thank you for continuing to educate other parents and care givers about such an important issue. I'm so sorry that you lost your beautiful daughter. I hope your words of advice can save another family the anguish of losing their child to drowning.

Thank your for posting this to raise awareness. I know of a young child who was left alone in the bath for a minute or so while mum answered the phone. He had a seizure while she was out of the room and was a near drowning. His brain injuries are immense and he will never walk, talk, move functionally or eat again. I thought I would post this story to raise awareness that even if your child does survive a near drowning they may never be the same again. Be careful near the water.

Katherine, thank you for continuing to educate other parents and care givers about such an important issue. I'm so sorry that you lost your beautiful daughter. I hope your words of advice can save another family the anguish of losing their child to drowning.

Thank you Katherine.. I actually remember watching the story when it aired and thinking how my future children would all take swimming lessons.... my 6month old starts lessons next week but its the dogs water bowl and other things we tend not to worry about, a great reminder...

I'm so sorry for the loss of your daughter, Hannah. Thank you for this reminder - it's such an important message.

Just a few weeks ago in our local area, a young boy passed away after drowning in a bucket of water...just terrible.

I've just looked up our local swim centre and will call them tomorrow. We stopped lessons because the boys had to have grommets and because we couldn't afford it at the time, but it's high time they both went to lessons. My husband and I were just discussing it and sadly, if either of them were to fall into a pool, they would drown unless seen immediately. Neither of them have adequate skills to save themselves.

Replying to bump it back up and to say thank you Kat for all this work you are doing to keep this in people minds.

The day that Hannah drowned we were in Qld at a resort and my daughter (then 2) was sitting on a step with her elder sister and brother whilst I took the babies clothes off. She stepped onto the next step down and lost her footing. She stopped struggling within about 3 seconds and just floated. Luckily my elder daughter was within 1 metre of her and pulled her up. It was the scariest thing that I have EVER witnessed in my life - to see how quickly she just stopped everything. It makes it so obvious to me that drowning is the silent killer - if we hadn't been closer it could have been a very different outcome.

For that reason, I will never, ever, ever buy a house with a pool because I just couldn't stand the stress and worry all the time. It definately has made me so much more conscious.

Thank you all for helping keep this bumped up. I did ask EB about two years ago to have a Water Safety forum but its was rejected to keep the Questions of pools/swimming and accidents in one place. Maybe we could all ask again? Im in the middle of writing our national day media release so I will post a link to it soon.

Thank you all for your support . when hannah died some lovely ladies in here scrapbooked me a memory book with little cards I still have it on my dedicated wall and I continue to look at the messages of Hope.

In spite of being in an almost constant state of motion while looking after the kids and trying to keep things together at home, it can seem as though parents have managed to get nothing on the to-do list done by the end of the day.

A French court may have ruled out Nutella as a baby name, but that doesn't have to stop you from taking inspiration from the supermarket (or bottle shop). See what parents in the US have chosen for their delicious little ones.